NEWS&PRESS

LA Times: Hospital leader under fire for paying daughter to drive him

Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2012

On his receipts, the acting director of a Central Coast public hospital district appeared to be paying a luxury car service to ferry him to and from the airport as part of his weekly commute.

But Lowell Johnson, interim chief executive at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, was actually paying his daughter for those rides, $50 each way. He then turned in receipts to the hospital district labeled “Airport Town Car.” The district paid him nearly $4,000 in reimbursements for the trips during his first 12 months on the job, according to records reviewed by The Times.

Hospital district officials said they were unaware of the payments to Johnson’s daughter until earlier this week but see no problem with it. They noted that his contract grants him paid car service and that the board doesn’t monitor who drives him.

Johnson also said there was nothing wrong with the reimbursements. He said he did not need to inform the hospital’s board that he had hired his daughter as a driver because he remained under his limit of $1,500 in travel expenses each week. He also receives $10,000 each week in salary.

“In my mind, there’s absolutely no issue with it,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing here.”

California labor board files complaint against SEIU in Fresno election for voter intimidation

The California Public Employment Relations Board has filed an official complaint against SEIU-UHW West for its conduct in the 2009 Fresno homecare election. Citing SEIU’s “physical and verbal threats,” “menacing and abusive behavior,” “unlawful destruction and removal” of property and a campaign of lies intended to mislead 10,000 Fresno homecare workers into voting to stay […]